Film Review – A Futile and Stupid Gesture

There’s been no shortage of material on the history of National Lampoon in recent years. In 2010, the book “Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead” was released, inspiring the 2015 documentary of the same title. And there was the 2006 book, “A Futile and Stupid Gesture,” which paved the way for a new film adaptation, eschewing another documentary study of the humor magazine’s rise to enjoy a dramatic take on the carnival of personalities that contributed to the brand name’s wild sense of humor, focusing in on the antics and agony of its co-founder, Doug Kenney. Director David Wain is clearly having the time of his life creating controlled chaos with “A Futile and Stupid Gesture,” filling the frame with famous faces and clever antics, giving the movie a special energy to best celebrate the source material. While he fails to unearth anything new, Wain gets by on enthusiasm, creating a valentine to the magazine and its love of anarchy.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com